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By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
Photo: the main gate to NAS North Island on Coronado. Undated Navy photo
February 15, 2022 (San Diego) - A vehicle with bomb-making material was stopped from entering Naval Air Station North Island about 9 a.m. Tuesday, and a “person of interest” was in custody, according to Navy authorities.
As of 12:30 p.m., the Third Street main entrance was closed, along with the Fourth Street outbound exit, said base spokesman Kevin Dixon.
“Navy security forces stopped an individual at … the main gate at the request of NCIS,” said a press statement released at 10:43 a.m. They discovered bomb-making material in the vehicle.
“Out of an abundance of caution,” said the statement, the gates were closed. “Currently on scene are Navy security forces, NCIS, the FBI and Navy Explosives ordnance disposal and Coronado Police Department.”
“NCIS has a person of interest in hand,” said Dixon. “They’re questioning. …. The person was stopped coming up to the gate, the point where the sentries are. It was discovered by our Navy security folks.”
But he wouldn’t say whether it was a man or woman and didn’t immediately know what kind of vehicle it was.
At least twice before in recent years, the base main entrance was closed for investigation of a possible vehicle bomb.
On April 20, 2017, the main gate was closed for nearly seven hours, creating heavy traffic backups on surrounding streets while a bomb squad investigated and determined that no such threat existed.
On Jan. 7, 2020, the discovery of a potentially suspicious device attached to a truck entering the base — also on Tuesday — prompted a roughly hourlong closure of the main gate.
An inspector at the naval aviation facility on the north end of the Coronado peninsula noticed the unidentified object — a box with a wire protruding from it — on the undercarriage of the commercial vehicle during a routine check about 8:30 a.m., said Dixon at the time,
After determining that the device attached to the truck was simply part of its operating system, naval personnel gave an all-clear to reopen the entrance to the base, Dixon said.
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